


Last night has been slightly...crazy

by GreenPumpkin



Category: Cinderella (2015)
Genre: Diary/Journal, F/M, Kit is a cook, Lizards, Pumpkins, Realization, Young girl giggles, at least for Ella, mild romance, quite a lot of running, running pumpkin, why did the guards do nothing?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 09:56:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3605910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenPumpkin/pseuds/GreenPumpkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the diary writing in Disney's Cinderella (2015). What are Ella's accounts of that night? Does she regret not having the courage to stay after midnight? Here she tells her parents, in some (hopefully) funny details how she felt during that evening, with some side musings - basically te whirlwind of a youn girl's mind, spinning and still spinning. Because that night had been slightly... crazy, to say the least.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last night has been slightly...crazy

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own thoughts. And maybe the Kit = cook headcannon.**

**By GreenPumpkin/writing sheep at tumblr.**

**Last night was sligtly…crazy.**

Hi Mummy, Hi daddy. I have to tell you of last night: last night was slightly… crazy. And wonderful. Magical. That’s were the craziness sort of begins.

Madame forbade me to go to this ball. I did not even want to meet the prince (which kind of happened anyway, but I’ll get to that), I only wanted to see Kit again – that apprentice I wrote about the other day. Remember when I wondered about what kind of apprentice he was? I guess I settled for cooking. Don’t know why, it just seemed strange and wonderful enough – why should a cook not come to a hunting party? He would be the one who would have to cook the stag later, which did not happen, of course, so… But considering that now, why would they take a cook with them? To a royal hunt! It now seems so illogical to me.

So Madame forbade me, and ripped your dress apart, Mum. It was… awful. I guess I lost it at that point. Because… I did everything they asked me to, and… that was the result. People not caring about me, daunting me, when I gave everything. I did not want to be angry, or sad, or desperate, but it was so hard to stick to that promise I made. I doubted I could go on with being kind to them. But fortunately, there is always a light showing you the way back, always something that can help you back on the road.

And that light for me – guess what, Mum – was my Fairy Godmother! She just appeared out of nowhere, was disguised as a beggar woman and then, there she was! She helped me to get to the palace, making a carriage out of a pumpkin - the two of us almost got crushed by it when she put the spell on – madness, total madness! But so amazing. I mean.. it is so hard to process all this! But what a beautiful carriage. And she turned the mice into horses, lizards into footmen, and the goose into the driver! (Although he said he is totally not capable of doing that) Such a whirlwind! So crazy. Feared it was all a dream, but it turned out as so much more, although it did not exactly feel real.

And she even repaired your dress, well, altered it. It was the bluest blue you could think of! Blue as the prince’s eyes… Oh goodness, his eyes. But I will get to that.

Once I wanted to step into the carriage, she stopped me, telling me my slippers did not quite fit to the dress (which was sort of true), so she just…. Made new ones. Out of glass. Glass! Can you believe that? Glass! I thought it would be ridiculous, but actually… they were really comfortable! Only thing is they are very slippery, in the total sense of the word, and easy to lose. That will be part of my story.

My heart was beating like a mad thing when driving towards the castle. I mean, I was all like: is this real? Seriously? So excited and scared all at once. I mean, is it possible to have so many feelings all at once, and every single one is just so important! I thought I might die from it – and I was still on the steps of the palace! God knew what was awaiting me! I told te lizard about my fear – but in fact, what could I have done but enjoy this evening? I mean, what would have been the point sitting on the stairs and just waiting for the clock striking midnight? If I learned one thing in life, than that’s it: do not waste your time. Use it. Use it to do good things, use it to make wonderful memories if you can. So that’s what I would do.

I am just so glad that the next part was not embarrassing. Because… I was late to the ball. Very late. Actually, the prince was just about to pick his first dancing partner when I got in. I mean, I knocked on those doors, those giant doors (everything was giant, giant but beautiful, like out of a painting), and there they were – all standing down there, looking up at me. I was so nervous, but seeing all of them smiling, nice faces all around me… my breath was taken away for a moment.

There was one man just standing right by the entrance, with some cards and a golden feather. I guess he was supposed to take my name, and introduce me, but… he was staring. As everyone else was. It was frightening, but also… nice. I mean, just for a change, it is nothing I would want to everyday… But I confess: it did me some good.

When I walked down the stairs, I kept looking for Kit – what if he had not been allowed to go to the ball? What whas I thinking, just going to the ball, looking for one person in what might have been a million! What if he truly had been learning his trade to be a cook one day? Surely he would be in the kitchen! Preparing cake, and drinks, and chat with other cooks about those funny girls up there throwing themselves at the prince… And how could I have possibly gone to someone and ask:

 

_“Good evening, Sir, I know this is slightly out of the ordinary to ask, but do you happen to know that apprentice called Kit, maybe he works in the kitchen? Because I am not really interested in the prince and all that, I mean I am sure he is most charming, but that’s not what I am here for and this is so strange, and… you know what? I am going. Sorry for coming here. I’ll just be off…”_

 

Well, fortunately, the next moment, I saw him.

I saw Kit.

 

He walked directly towards me as I reached the dance floor, with a smile on his face that could not be happier. The crowd moved aside before him, bowing. You cannot imagine my surprise. You truly cannot… Oh, you probably can, I am sure. For he was the prince. Or, as he put it later, _a_ prince.

So he walked towards me, and… asked me to dance with him. The first dance of the whole night. And oh goodness, it was perfect. I could cry so hard at how perfect it was. It’s… as if I had never done anything different. It was as if the two of us were two sides of one coin finally united, everything fitted so well. Sometimes I was out of breath when I was close enough to his face. His eyes were so blue, so incredibly blue. And his manners in front of all the people – you can clearly see he is able to keep his composure, yet it cracked just a little when he came to me – what is it about court life that you cannot show your true self? Life must be hard for him. But… I think life is never easy. We all have our hardships, they just come differently.

Who would have ever thought of this? I came to have, like, some good night out, maybe meeting my friend (okay I admit daddy: he seems a bit more than ‘just’ a friend. I hope you do not worry about that), have a nice chat,, and then leave. And it turned out so… magical. So crazy. So strange, so wonderful. And adventurous in the end.

After that dance, we escaped the ballroom, and were able to spend some time together, just me and him. Me and Kit. Me and the prince. How strange to think of that, yet even write that down in ink, leaving it there for eternity. And yet… this is the way it happened. I am so glad I had this night. It truly gave me back my belief, for now I know I am not wrong – it is my stepfamily that is wrong. And I know that magic exists for those who are kind and good. For every wrong in the world there is something good, you only have to look closely enough. An old beggar woman is not what she seems, a young man in the woods is not what he seems. And, for myself – he thinks I might be a princess – which I am not. And probably never will be. I am just a girl from the country.

 

So we walked in the gardens, got to know each other better. We share the same sense of humour, we can talk of everything and nothing, of everything that is meaningful, joyful or full of sadness. I tried not to tell him who I am – but it did not matter at first. He realized who I am inside, which was enough as we walked by the moonlight. The next thing: he showed me such a pretty little garden - a secret place, that must be his own refuge. There was that swing – and all of the sudden, in the most romantic of times, I was able to feel like a child again, even if that was for a couple of seconds. To feel like that… It was as if I had been born anew. Only to be an adult the next minute because all those feelings of excitement, happiness, and…

I guess it is like that, there is no use in not saying it aloud, or at last write it down: I am in love with him. It is as simple as that. It happened so continuously, from that moment in the woods, the dance at the ball, to those moments on the swing. It was always such a whirlwind of everything, and only now I…

And then came the moment that most I feared: he asked to know who I actually am. I was fearful – would he still like me if he knew? That I am just a servant girl that sleepsby the fireplace, that owns nothing, that talks to mice and came in a pumpkin, a girl that will do his country no good? I feared everything would change. He wanted at least to know my name, which I was about to tell him, when the clock stroke a few minutes before midnight. Such a bad timing! And such an utterly forgettable, and crazy me! My name has only two syllables! Two! Or four, if you rather go with the name I was newly given. For that’s it: I am not quite sure what to call myself anymore. Names have power. If I would utter out ‘Cinderella’, I would be truly that. But would speaking that name myself, give me back the power over if? Would I not define it anew? Is not the fear of a name simply increasing the fear of the thing itself?

 

Almost midnight.

 

I told him I had to leave, and the way he looked at me – he did not understand a word I was saying – actually, who would? Who would get the sense of ‘pumpkins and lizards’ – that’s so me! I do have the time to tell him about pumpkins and lizards, and how much I loved everything about that evening (even telling his father, the king, kind of how I felt about his son), and not tell my name! I still… So crazy. My heart was pounding so fast, even faster than I was running. Oh, I was running, and running, and running…I remember his confused face, I had it before my eyes when I was running.

I mean, the really crazy part is just beginning, for midnight is not the end – it is when things really start to get exciting, And scary. And magical. Dangerous. And funny – people hunting a pumpkin. I still have to giggle, if it had not been for me nearly dying…

So I ran, in this huge blue ball gown, through the huge ball room, so full of people who were still dancing (I mean, who leaves a feast at midnight? I wish… No. The night was perfect, just as it was.), completely surprised when I nearly knocked over some of them. I heard the prince coming after me, and as soon as I got up the stairs again – I cannot tell how lucky I was for not stumbling or spraining my ankles, or breaking my legs, goodness, so many things could have happened! So I got up the stairs, and ran into the king. I looked as baffled and flabbergasted as I probably did. I wish I could tell him over again how sorry I was. How wonderful that night was, and so many things… But the night is over.

So I ran again, and it felt like I was running for dear life. But was it? Only now I can think it over – from what exactly did I run? From the truth? From reality?

I ran past the guards. Many guards. And they must have heard the prince shouting – are they just employed for standing there? Or are they frozen? Are they statues? No, I saw one blinking confused when I ran past him. So why did they do nothing? Not that I wanted them to prevent me… Not at all. No. I wanted to get away, of course I did!

 

Did I?

 

I ran down the stairs, so fast that I lost one shoe. I stopped for some seconds, looking up – and there he was, there was Kit. Dear Kit. As confused as he was, he was still laughing, as if I would pay a game, as if it was some joke. Well, my blurting out about ‘pumpkins and lizards’ came so unexpected, so out of nowhere for him – how couldn’t he think I was simply joking? And when he looked at me – so full of hope, as amazed as I was, still.

And there I was, running from him. As perfect as this night was – we both will have many lovely memories of it, but one bad: when I ran away. Particularly he, I think. Me turning my back. What might he think?

All I could think at that moment was to get away as fast as possible. I shouted at Goose, lizards, mice, to get me away. Get me away fast, really fast. I was in the carriage, and the hunt soon began, as in no time the Grand Duke and the Captain of the guards were after me, while clock was ticking on, and the spell started to dissolve, piece by piece. Thankfully, I had lizards on board – they are quite good for something! Without them… I actually do not know. Am I happy? Am I… I cannot really figure it out, it is all so strange and magical.

I was sorry about the shoe. Maybe the prince would pick it up? Keep it as a little gift from this night, a reminder, a little piece of memory, of the girl who talked of lizards, pumkins, of the girl who ran away? Of a night that was almost perfect?

The goose driver drove the carriage really fast, so fast that we nearly fell over the cliffs. But at least the king's men did not catch us

Around me, the carriage turned back into a pumpkin, tick by tick, until I was absolutely squeezed in. One of my arms popped out of it, then the next. Soon my feet touched the ground, but my upper body part was still locked inside the pumpkin. I imagine it must have looked jolly good funny, a running pumpkin that was holding a glass slipper in its hand! It squeezed in more, soon I could not breathe properly, I was running on inside the pumpkin, my heart beating too fast and nearly breaking, at least it felt like that. Me. A running pumpkin.

But then it broke. First in two pieces, four, and then crumbled completely, me running on for a few yards. When I stopped, I looked down – I was wearing the pink, ripped dress again, my hair was completely loose. I looked back, to where I came from – did that really happen, or did my imagination just run wild? But I was holding the glass slipper. It had happened. Truly. A funny, crazy and magical night out.

 

So here I am now, wondering and still dreaming about all of this. I hope you enjoy reading this, mummy and daddy. You would have enjoyed this night if you had only been here. I miss you so much. I wonder what advice you would give me, were I to ask you both: should I have stayed? For if Kit truly liked me, as he appeared to (or not? What do I know of such things? So many questions without answers...)… Would the truth have stopped this? This is where it becomes frightening. To know who I truly am. I did not have the courage. For the Fairy Godmother only told me that the spell would only last till midnight. Nothing about that I have to leave.

I did not have enough courage for reality. Not enough. But… maybe I have to work through this, find this courage. Going to the ball in disguise, pretending to be someone you are not (or at least not stopping people from believing you are a princess) – this is nothing. You cannot loose, you go there, stay for a while, and leave, never to return. You just have some good fun. What if reality happens? When truth happens, and you stand there, face to face, saying who you are, showing it.

Maybe it is for the best. For I did need such a night, such a perfect night. Reality is not as magical as this was. Maybe the night would have lost its magical spell if I had told him my name, if I had stayed until that last stroke. When I look back on this night in 70 years, it will always be like this in my memory. Perfect. Crazy. Magical. Mad. Wonderful. Funny. Lovely. Full of... Kit.

And this surely is a good thing. I do not usually get such a time, and maybe neither Kit. We both needed this to get new strength. Who can say if we have changed for the better? Who can say what this night gave us? For nothing in the world…

 

I should have stayed right there, right Mummy? Right there, in front of Kit, having courage and being kind. I shouldn’t have been afraid of my name. May it be Ella or Cinderella, it does not matter. I should not have been afraid of reality. Maybe…

I look down at the slipper. I smile. I have one. He has got the other one, probably. The moon is bright outside. Midnight is not the end of it. It may just be the beginning. Last night has been slightly… crazy. And wonderful. But who knows what is to come?

Goodbye, Mummy, goodbye, Daddy. I will keep you informed!

For midnight gives way for a new day.

 

 

End

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope you all liked it! It gave me the giggles to write it.  
> About my headcanon: Kit did not tell Ella about what kind of apprentice he was, and a girl with her imaginative mind - why wouldn' she think he could be a cook? Of course he had weapons by his side, but let's face it: Ella has not seen alot of the world. Yes, she has read a lot, but she has not been around so many apprentices of the palace. And when the Captain of the Guards started calling him your highness - did she simpy not listen, overheard it, or was just not thinking that the man in front of her could lie? I do not want to say that she might be naive. Just a girl with lots of imagination. And who wuld not want a Kit making you some delicious pancakes?
> 
> And sorry for any mistakes - English is not my mother tongue.


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